And We Go, Hand in Four-Fingered Hand
by Unstoppable Cyborg
Summary: Half-trolls Jim, Toby, and Claire travel together to New Jersey. Jlaireby, contains mentions of canon ships (though one of them is only mentioned as a breakup.) Rated for mild descriptions of injuries.


**So itsanotherfanficwriterohno won the contest I had on tumblr, and she got a fic and a drawing from me due to it. The fic was supposed to be "a jlaireby au where Claire and Toby jumped in after Jim and all three end up in a relationship on their way to New Jersey while dealing with their changes", but I only had about 1k to work with so I tried my best.**

* * *

Between the three of them, Toby minded his new appearance the least. His teeth were, well, he had fangs and an underbite, but his teeth were _straight_, almost as straight as they had been back before he had got them all messed up again when they had been trying to corner Otto. Also, he was taller now. Well, taller than Claire at least if he didn't count her horns. Jim, though, was still about a head taller.

So what if he had hazmat-orange skin and horns? And, yeah, he couldn't eat _all_ his favorite foods, but he could still eat tacos... at least, he could when he could get them. That wasn't exactly too often, though, since they were traveling across the Midwest. The region wasn't exactly known for its Mexican food.

The point was, Toby didn't care too much about what his body looked like, not anymore, not when he had figured out that even though he was fat he was still strong. He was just glad that the three of them had stayed together. Then again, his overall proportions hadn't changed, not too much, not compared to the others.

Jim was _really_ tall now, and he wasn't as much of a noodle either. His shoulders seemed broader in comparison to his head, compared to before, though that might've been the armor.

Claire hadn't really grown much since the two of them had dove after Jim into the black elixir. At most, she seemed like she was Steve's height now, not counting her spiraling, antellope-like horns. As if to make up for that particularly human aspect of her, her legs bent backwards now and ended in hooves. While Toby and Jim still had the same eyes, Claire's were that same black-and-purple that Toby would see in nightmares where Claire hadn't survived the portal. The fact that she had built-in tattoos that looked the same as the markings from that last fateful afternoon in Trollmarket didn't help.

Then again, Toby was pretty sure that it was the flecks of gold that had replaced her freckles were what gave her the most pause. Like now, with the way her eyes seemed to fixate on them, and the way her stance felt so frozen, like a deer in the headlights.

"Claire?" he asked, approaching her slowly. Her shoulders jumped, but the rest of her didn't.

"We should probably go," she said. "Sun's rising."

"You alright?"

"I'll be, I'll be fine. How're you holding up?"

"Fine." _Better than you,_ he wanted to say, but that specific wording would be cruel. "I talked to Darci, she misses the two of us. Also, she says that _something_ weird is going on with Steve, Eli, Aja, and Krel."

They had broken up, not because Toby was a troll, but because he was leaving Arcadia Oaks for an undetermined amount of time. It was amicable, but he was sure they wouldn't get back together.

"I hope we did the right thing," Claire said. Toby wasn't entirely sure if she was talking about the way they dove after Jim, hoping that they could pull him back up, or just the fact that the only people protecting Arcadia were Steve, Eli, and Strickler.

"I'm sure we did."

Walking side-by-side, it still felt odd to be taller than her. Toby moved to grab her hand, but pulled his back. She wrapped her arms around herself.

"If you say so."

"Well, I do."

"Anyone else ever tell you you're not the best at pep talks, TP? You're better at it than NotEnrique, though."

* * *

Their troubles didn't stop in New Jersey. There had been a weird knight, and in the midst of the fight Steve had called, asking about Kanjigaar and Vendel of all people, because apparently an Akiridion dictator was in their hometown.

Toby, Jim, and Blinky had forced the knight to retreat, of course. They were the trollhunters, they could handle a rando in armor. But still, Jim looked spooked.

"Something wrong, Jimbo?"

Jim gave Toby a haphazard smile, but Toby knew better. A pair of tusks couldn't hide his trepidation.

"Should, should we _all_ have left?"

Toby suppressed an eye-roll. Jim probably would've tried to get him and Claire to stay behind, had the potion gone to plan and only Jim had become a troll.

"I'm worried about my mom," Jim continued, his voice only just above a whisper. "I know she's better in battle than I thought, but I can't protect her."

Toby was glad he didn't roll his eyes. His hand crept towards Jim's, but Toby pulled his back. What he may interpret as comforting might just make Jim even more jumpy and nervous. It was frustrating, knowing that some of the tried-and-true anxiety-helping techniques Toby had developed to help Jim didn't work on half-trolls. "Hey, she'll be fine. Like you said, Dr. L's stronger than we thought. And, well, I know that you don't like the fact that your mom and Strickler are getting back together, but he _will_ protect her."

"I know, just, I guess I thought we'd get something of a break now Gunmar and Morgana are gone."

"Yeah, me too, but let's face it. After the year we've had, a break would be too boring for us."

"I guess you're right."

"Of course I am. When have I been wrong?"

"Remember when you bought that stone that had hellheeties?"

"Okay, how was I supposed to know about that?"

"What about in middle school, when you dislocated your shoulder because you thought that hanging yourself from your ceiling by your wrist would make you taller and thinner?"

Toby glared, but he made sure his glare was half-hearted. He was just glad that Jim was happy.

* * *

The Heartstone was probably the third most beautiful thing Toby had seen in his life. First and second were tied between the other two half-trolls living on Earth.

"We're here," Jim said, breathless.

"Finally," Claire said. She looked at Jim; the two of them grabbed Toby's hands and pulled him towards their new home.


End file.
